Bartlett not alone in Series

Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Jason Bartlett isn't the third San Joaquin County resident to play in the World Series after all.

Bob Highfill

Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Jason Bartlett isn't the third San Joaquin County resident to play in the World Series after all.

The former St. Mary's High and Delta College shortstop started for the Rays in Game 1 of the World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday night, joining Ed Sprague Jr. and the late Frank Crosetti as area products who saw action in the Fall Classic.

Turns out the area has produced other World Series performers not mentioned in an article in Wednesday's edition of The Record, as some readers pointed out.

Von Hayes and Myron (Mike) McCormick also played in the Fall Classic.

Like Bartlett and Sprague, who played with the Toronto Blue Jays on their back-to-back World Series teams in 1992 and 1993, Hayes was a product of St. Mary's in Stockton, graduating in 1976.

Hayes was in his third season with the Philadelphia Phillies when they played the Baltimore Orioles in the 1983 World Series. Hayes came off the bench in four games and was hitless in three pinch-hit at-bats. Baltimore took the series in five games.

McCormick, who was born in Angels Camp in 1917 and attended Stockton High, played in three World Series during his 10-year major-league career. McCormick won a World Series as a rookie in 1940 with the Cincinnati Reds, who beat the Detroit Tigers in seven games.

McCormick set a World Series record against the Tigers with 24 outfield assists, according to BaseballLibrary.com, and hit .310 (9 for 29) with two RBI and a run scored. He lost nearly three seasons to Naval duty but in 1948 was a member of the Boston Braves who lost in six games to the Cleveland Indians. McCormick hit .261 (6 for 23) with two RBI.

The next season, McCormick played for the Brooklyn Dodgers against their rivals, the New York Yankees, who won the series in five games. He was hitless in his only at-bat. McCormick was a Los Angeles resident when he died in 1976.

Others were on teams that appeared in the World Series but didn't play, including Manteca's Milo Candini, a pitcher who appeared in 18 games with the 1950 Phillies; catcher Ken Huckaby of Manteca, who played one game for the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks; and Stockton's Bobby Pfeil, an infielder on the 1969 New York Mets.